Still shackled, Loho moved ahead, driving his sword through a guard’s back with a thrust powerful enough to jolt the man forward. Others turned at the unexpected attack, but he was already tracing arcs in the air. Two throats were slit through, and Loho stepped ahead without waiting for the men to fall, disappearing into the crowd.

  Though the line of defense had fallen almost immediately, the armed guards were faring better. Kaye couldn’t see through to the other side, but they either weren’t retreating, or doing so very slowly. Off to the right, the bulk of the poorly armed caravan, at least those still alive, were fleeing and being chased.

  “Move,” Hogog said.

  It was Aien who answered, “We can’t, not through there. They will catch up to us by the time we arrive. We’re trapped.”

  Kaye never felt so powerless, watching a massacre less than fifty paces ahead of her. She whirled around. The wagon was behind them, but it was too far away from the rock wall, and not nearly tall enough for them to jump up from it. It didn’t look possible to climb it with nothing but hands.

  I did it again, and this time it’s actually my fault.

  When she turned, looking for her uncle but with no idea of what to say, they were all staring intently ahead. Kaye followed their gazes.

  Loho was visible amidst the crowd again, a severed head spinning away from his sword. The man’s bulk belied his dexterity. It wasn’t a matter of fighting poorly instructed guards, for he attacked anyone that approached with no discrimination between sides of the conflict. The ease with which he cut through them was nothing short of astonishing.

  Kaye looked to Aien. He seemed irate a moment ago. Now he was perplexed.

  The massacre drifted to the right, putting some space between them just in time for Shoshin to be seen, raising his bde to parry. He was too slow, and Loho’s sword split his belly open from right to left. The others were far from being done, but soon Loho was standing alone among the corpses.

  Ahead of him and waiting by the wagons Kaye had set up, dozens of Headhunters were gathered, watching.

  Paying them no mind, Loho made his way back, dragging Shoshin’s body, pink entrails spilling out behind him. When they were out of the death circle, Loho crouched, reaching for the many neckces that Shoshin had stupidly wore despite the situation.

  Kaye understood why Loho had moved back. He was hiding his face from the other Headhunters.

  Retrieving his mask, Loho brought it to his face, tying it around his head. For a brief moment Kaye could see that it was bone, an actual skull, with only the front being jade-incrusted.

  Loho looked their way, staring directly at Kaye. The shiny, green skull covered his face from forehead to below the nose, the mask included the upper teeth, leaving only his lower mandible and jaws exposed.

  “Take these out. It will make things easier.”

  It was a moment before Kaye understood what he meant. She stepped forward, heard footsteps following as she looked through the keys still in her hand. The second key was the correct one, and his shackles fell to the ground, leaving behind excoriations in his wrists.

  “That sword is mine,” Aien said.

  “There are plenty lying around.”

  “He is a Headhunter,” Uruoro said. “If Loho puts his sword away, now, within view of all of them…”

  “I wouldn’t give my sword away regardless. Not even if the Green One asked for it.”

  Far ahead, the Headhunters were uluting, ughing and cursing. The sounds of battle still reached Kaye’s ears.

  “They are still fighting.” she gasped. “You can tell them to stop, can’t you?”

  “Even if I do. You ask for a lot, Green One.”

  “I saved you, didn’t I? They… We can’t die here.”

  “You ask for a lot,” Loho repeated, “but I have been humiliated enough, and I’m in the mood to retaliate.” Loho’s expression changed then. His usual grin, which looked unsettling beneath the toothy remark of the jade mask, was gone. In its pce there was cold, reassuring confidence. “I would not be doing this if I didn’t trust my chances. I have a debt to you, and now I begin to repay it. As for you, boy. Watch, and learn.”

  Loho turned away from them, stretching his arms to the sides, sword in his right hand. He stepped forward like that, shouting at the Headhunters.

  “These people are under my protection! Them and every body littering this killing-field, every desperate man, woman and child running from their demise. Each life you take is one I shall take back. I invoke the right of bloodshed.”

  Before he was done talking, some were moving away, towards the direction of battle. Kaye tried not to think about how many would die before they could be ordered to stop.

  The unmasked ones broke from the crowd to clean the field of dead bodies, dragging them away. Some Headhunters went after these bodies to steal their belongings, while the others assembled in a semi-circle. Figures took position all around the rock wall, staring from above, others climbed wagons or sat down, but not a single one moved in Kaye and the other’s direction. Even behind them, no one looked down from above.

  There were at least two-hundred of them, not counting the dead, not counting the ones still following the caravan, or however many there were out of sight.

  When the first Headhunter stepped forward, Loho mocked him.

  “On this day of days, the Goddess of Death licks her lips.”

  There was no preamble to the duel. The newcomer approached with a two-handed, curved longsword in his hands, swiping and sshing. Loho didn’t stop moving for a single moment, narrowly dodging several times in a row, often forced to parry the heavier bde. Kaye could have had a shield, and she doubted she would been able to stand after a single one of those blows.

  It was ridiculous, drawn-out. Both men kicked dust around, and though Loho was in the defensive, they seemed to be of equal skill. Despite the other Headhunter dictating the skirmish, he couldn’t get a hit in.

  Things started to change after Loho managed the first hit. Another followed, then yet more. Every movement was precise, and though it took long, his opponent was left with a dozen sshes on his arms, shoulders and sides. None deep enough to incapacitate, but it certainly hurt.

  Loho suddenly dashed forward, sshing down through half the man’s thigh, a deep cut that summoned forth a scream. He tried to backhand Loho away, but was too slow, and the sword came from below, thrusting deep inside his ribcage.

  “He was baiting him,” Aien expined. “All the sshes, they were all aimed at the upper body, to take his attention away from his legs.”

  No one answered, but the crowd continued to shout as if this was a game.

  The first body was carried away only after Loho beheaded it and threw the head spinning aside.

  The second Headhunter stepped forward.

  This one had no chance. He was far nimbler than the st, with a one-handed sword that could keep up with Loho’s footsteps, and for a few moments they tried each other’s bdes. If he had been expecting the same style, Loho surprised him with a barrage of sshes, each coming from a different direction. It took only a few seconds before the other Headhunter couldn’t keep up, and Loho continued sshing as if he was still being blocked. A hand was severed, a deep cut across the chest from right to left, a savage thrust through a shoulder, and the man was reduced to begging for his life.

  “Is he an Acolyte?” Hogog asked.

  “He is not.” Uruoro answered.

  “He mentioned Irina.”

  “Irina loathes.”

  “The Goddess of Death?”

  “Would you enjoy it, Hogog of the Nagra? To live in death?”

  “The followers of Irina,” Aien said, “sleep in coffins, to guide the souls to her realm.”

  “To ease her burden,” Uruoro answered. “A High Goddess she may be, but she still has two eyes, and I see no Acolyte of Death around, unless you happen to know one. Thus, she loathes.”

  Loho brought his sword down in a violent swing, cutting through a shoulder, reaching all the way to the chest. The man’s arm fell to the side, still attached to his body by a dangling strip of meat. The pain and change of weight brought him to the ground, where Loho nonchantly split his throat.

  “Uruoro,” Aien said.

  “Yes?”

  “You know Loho.”

  “Barely.”

  “But he’s talked to you, what did he tell you about him and the Headhunters, how many he’s killed and his life and standing and who he is?”

  “Trust me, Aien Bashek, I’d be sharing in your shock if I had not seen other Headhunters in the past.”

  “How do they fare against him?” Aien pointed to the ongoing duel. Was it the fourth? Fifth?

  “From the scant few I have seen, I am forced to admit that Loho would humble them. Do keep these exact words in mind, Aien Bashek: from the scant few I have seen. I have heard tales of the Armsmasters’ prowess as well, but as I have not been cursed with their presence yet.”

  “Cursed?” Aien sounded outraged.

  “Watch him and wonder. What kind of a life does a man have to lead to end up like that?”

  Fourteen. The pile of heads that Loho, the Headhunter, collected on that day was fourteen high. On that hour. He seemed to have swum in blood, most of it not his. He was wounded, of course, sshed, punched, shoved and kicked, his shoulders were heaving with the effort of breathing. None of that stopped him from pacing from one side to the other, screaming like a madman, asking for more, swinging his free hand around in indignation, sword dripping with gore, pointing at random Headhunters in the crowd and demanding that they step forward.

  “They could kill him now, but that would be shameful,” Uruoro said. “If one of them accepts the duel and wins, the others will curse and belittle the man for the rest of his life. If he is lucky enough to not be exiled by his cnmates.”

  Eventually, it became clear that no one dared. The crowd moved, Headhunters and unmasked both, but not to fight. They rummaged through the wagons, through bodies that still weren’t pickpocketed, and moved around as if the matter was settled. During the st few duels, the pursuers had returned, and Uruoro had spoken to an unmasked man, who told them that the st time he saw the survivors they were still running away.

  Would they survive? Without their belongings? At least they had a chance, now. Some had to make it through. Loho had single-handedly brought the massacre to a stop.

  But it won’t happen again, Kaye told herself. We have to make it out of here, away from this war. We have nothing to do with this. You did what you could, Kaye, and that is that.

  “Kaye.”

  She turned at Uruoro’s voice. He was holding his hands out to her, still shackled.

  Kaye fumbled with the keys for a moment. “I’m sorry, I was—”

  “I forgot about them myself… If only forgetting was enough.”

  Uruoro touched his wrists after the shackles were removed, wincing. They were filled with red sores.

  “I still don’t believe that you pulled that out,” Hogog said, his voice hoarse.

  “I was desperate,” Kaye said, turning to him. “But I won’t try something like that again, not if I can ever avoid it. I mean it. Next time…” She gnced around, saw that Loho was approaching. Better not say it.

  They all turned to him, who still held the bloodstained sword. The jade mask now shone in both green and crimson. The blood and sweat were a foul smell.

  “I need to put this sword away, before the others misunderstand it.”

  Aien held Loho’s gaze for a moment, the awe gone and repced by defiance, but unstrapped the sheath from his belt and handed it to Loho, who swiped the bde clean in a dead man’s shirt before sheathing it.

  “What now?” Kaye asked.

  “Now they will take what is theirs, but won’t touch what is mine. If anyone hurts you, the fool will be gutted by the others.”

  “What is yours?” Hogog asked.

  “Scared of the shackles?” Loho asked, a second smile beneath the skull’s grin, “Don’t be. This is a day to be remembered, but the debt is far from being repaid.” Loho met Kaye’s eyes. “I believe I know what you will ask of me. That I guide you to safety.”

  Kaye nodded. In truth, she hadn’t expected any more. Not after that.

  “So shall it be.”

  “Do we have to talk about that now?” Hogog asked.

  Loho shrugged. They fell silent, all waiting for Kaye. She certainly didn’t want to stay there any longer.

  “No, we should leave.”